Creation of internal grooves in the shoulder area of a tire that are oriented axially may have several advantages. First, the axial grooves may decrease the heat generation in the tire that is built up when the tire is rolling. Second, the grooves may evacuate the water by the tire side during operation on a vehicle, which may improve the visibility of drivers behind the vehicle. The grooves also provide tire flexibility in the shoulder area which may improve tire performance. The grooves may also be used to mount temperature sensing devices to monitor the shoulder temperature. The grooves may be also used to install retractable stud pins for enhanced winter driving.
Definitions
“Aspect Ratio” means the ratio of a tire's section height to its section width.
“Axial” and “axially” means the lines or directions that are parallel to the axis of rotation of the tire.
“Bead” or “Bead Core” means generally that part of the tire comprising an annular tensile member, the radially inner beads are associated with holding the tire to the rim being wrapped by ply cords and shaped, with or without other reinforcement elements such as flippers, chippers, apexes or fillers, toe guards and chafers.
“Belt Structure” or “Reinforcing Belts” means at least two annular layers or plies of parallel cords, woven or unwoven, underlying the tread, unanchored to the bead, and having both left and right cord angles in the range from 17° to 27° with respect to the equatorial plane of the tire.
“Bias Ply Tire” means that the reinforcing cords in the carcass ply extend diagonally across the tire from bead-to-bead at about 25-65° angle with respect to the equatorial plane of the tire, the ply cords running at opposite angles in alternate layers
“Breakers” or “Tire Breakers” means the same as belt or belt structure or reinforcement belts.
“Carcass” means a laminate of tire ply material and other tire components cut to length suitable for splicing, or already spliced, into a cylindrical or toroidal shape. Additional components may be added to the carcass prior to its being vulcanized to create the molded tire.
“Circumferential” means lines or directions extending along the perimeter of the surface of the annular tread perpendicular to the axial direction; it can also refer to the direction of the sets of adjacent circular curves whose radii define the axial curvature of the tread as viewed in cross section.
“Cord” means one of the reinforcement strands, including fibers, which are used to reinforce the plies.
“Inner Liner” means the layer or layers of elastomer or other material that form the inside surface of a tubeless tire and that contain the inflating fluid within the tire.
“Inserts” means the reinforcement typically used to reinforce the sidewalls of runflat-type tires; it also refers to the elastomeric insert that underlies the tread.
“Ply” means a cord-reinforced layer of elastomer-coated, radially deployed or otherwise parallel cords.
“Radial” and “radially” mean directions radially toward or away from the axis of rotation of the tire.
“Radial Ply Structure” means the one or more carcass plies or which at least one ply has reinforcing cords oriented at an angle of between 65° and 90° with respect to the equatorial plane of the tire.
“Radial Ply Tire” means a belted or circumferentially-restricted pneumatic tire in which the ply cords which extend from bead to bead are laid at cord angles between 65° and 90° with respect to the equatorial plane of the tire.
“Sidewall” means a portion of a tire between the tread and the bead.